This invention relates to a method of manufacturing superconductor wire or tapes by the powder in tube process and to the material produced thereby. It has long been known that at sufficiently low temperatures certain materials become superconductors of electric currents by virtue of extremely low or the absence of electrical resistance. Substantial research is being directed to finding materials which become superconducting at temperatures above the atmospheric boiling point of liquid nitrogen. To date, these materials have been found to be ceramic and more particularly, oxides of certain combinations, one of which is the bismuth, strontium, calcium, copper oxide system known as the 2223 superconductor or the Bi.sub.2 Sr.sub.2 Ca.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.x or BSCCO.
In the powder in tube method, an oxide precursor of the ultimate superconductor is packed into a silver or silver alloy tube which is used for both mechanical and thermal stabilization. Much of the research is directed toward commercializing methods of manufacture and to improving the current density or J.sub.c values of the superconducting material.